


Chocolate Chip Pancakes

by Fandoms_Everywhere_United



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Because it's me, Fluff, Gen, Happy Birthday Keith (Voltron), I'm Sorry, Light Angst, Pretty much it, This is 4 hours late, and I make everything at least a little angsty, it's a birthday party, that's what it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 09:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16385696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandoms_Everywhere_United/pseuds/Fandoms_Everywhere_United
Summary: Keith didn’t like his birthday. October 23rd held too many memories.  Some of them were good.He thought back to growing up with his dad.  They never did anything big, because it was always just the two of them in the middle of the desert.  His dad would have gone into town the day before and gotten something small.  The gift was never wrapped; Keith hadn’t known that they traditionally were until he was in the Garrison.They would sit at the old table and his dad would cook whatever Keith wanted; he made extra because Keith always got seconds on his birthday.  Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner.  It was a small celebration, but a celebration nonetheless.October 23rd held too many memories, and only the first ones were happy.





	Chocolate Chip Pancakes

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS FOUR HOURS LATE AND I HAVE NO EXCUSE

Keith didn’t like his birthday. October 23rd held too many memories. Some of them were good.

He thought back to growing up with his dad. They never did anything big, because it was always just the two of them in the middle of the desert. His dad would have gone into town the day before and gotten something small. The gift was never wrapped; Keith hadn’t known that they traditionally were until he was in the Garrison.

They would sit at the old table and his dad would cook whatever Keith wanted; he made extra because Keith always got seconds on his birthday. Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner. It was a small celebration, but a celebration nonetheless.

October 23rd held too many memories, and only the first ones were happy.

In the home, birthdays were never celebrated. There was nothing to celebrate. It was another year that no one had wanted them. Another year without a ‘forever home’. The one time that Keith had asked the chef for chocolate chip pancakes, he was less than kindly told to ‘fuck off’ and eat his eggs.

That stung almost as much as his dad’s absence. Eggs for breakfast. Slimy ham sandwiches for lunch. A sad excuse for Salisbury steak for dinner. The meals were no different than any other day. There was nothing special about October 23 other than what it used to be.

He moved in with the Shirogane’s and for the first time in years, he felt like he had something to look forward to this year. He didn’t get his chocolate chip pancakes, but then again, he never asked them for any. He was too afraid of them telling him no, so when they asked if he normally did anything for his birthday, he thought back to his time in the home and shook his head.

October 23rd held too many memories, but maybe making some new ones wouldn’t be so bad.

\---

“Lance!”

He turned around in the hallway only to see Krolia jogging to him. Her hair bounced slightly around her face, and the weapons that she wore made clanging against each other. It was a miracle that he hadn’t heard her earlier.

“Yeah?” The blue paladin raised his eyebrow at her. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his old jacket. Bandages still wrapped around him in places, but for the most part, he was free to move however he wished. “What’s up, Krolia?”

She came to a stop behind him. “I was talking to Shiro who said something about the day of Keith’s birth being soon and-”

Lance’s eyes widened, “Wait? Keith’s birthday is soon? No, that’s not right. I know everyone’s birthday. Hunk’s birthday is the 13th of January, Pidge’s is April 3rd. Shiro’s is February 29th, and Keith’s is… His is…” He stopped. Three of his fingers were extended and he recited the dates again. “January 13th, February 29th, April 3rd, and…” He trailed off again. “And…” He blanked. “I can’t believe that I don’t know Keith’s birthday. We’ve been in space for months.” His eyes lit up brilliantly and he reached to grab Krolia’s hand. “We need to throw him a surprise party!”

She tilted her head to the side. “A surprise party? What is that? Is that an Earth tradition?” She walked with Lance down the hall. “We have festivals in the Galra Empire? Are they perhaps similar?”

“I mean, how different could they be?” Lance shrugged, then he smiled wildly. “Oh my god! Krolia!” He started jumping up and down excitedly. “You can organize parts of a Galran festival, and I can get stuff for an Earth party! It’ll be the best of both worlds!”

Lance ran off and left Krolia alone in the hall before she could ask him where she was supposed to find sixteen competitors to fight to the death.

\---

October 23rd was quickly approaching and Pidge had no clue what to get Keith’s birthday. She walked down the aisles of Best Buy, looking at all of the movies and the games that had come out while they were in space.

Production had pretty much been halted with the whole ‘Galra invasion’ thing. Most entertainment stores had shut down and this one was no exception.

Technically it wasn’t stealing because the door was wide open. Someone else had broken in and stolen before her, so she was exempt from breaking in.

Unfortunately, not being the first scavenger of this store meant that most of the good treasures were gone. There were a few Wii games still on the shelves and the discount movies bin was still full of cheap and cheesy movies.

She walked past a wall of old black and white movies that no one had picked up when something caught her eye. There were five copies of it left. She smiled as she pocketed the thin keep case.

It was perfect.

\---

Keith smiled and shook his head at Allura’s form. “Not quite. You’re a little off balance.” He nudged her arm with his hand so that it was a little less outstretched. He kicked her foot a little further away from the other, making her stance more stable.

“There. Go ahead and try those moves again. This time, keep your shoulders a little further back and stay on the balls of your feet.” She nodded and swung her bayard again in the series of movements that he had instructed her in. It wasn’t perfect, but that wobble at the end of the sequence was gone and she didn’t need to shuffle her feet any further to keep her balance.

He nodded his approval and smiled supportively. “Yeah, you’re really close! I think that we can take a break now.” He walked over to where their water bottles and towels were and tossed her one of each. She dabbed at her forehead and wiped the sweat from her face.

Allura leaned against the wall next to him. “Keith, if I might ask, what prompted this training session? Not that I’m complaining or anything. It just seemed very, what is the human phrase, out of the blue?”

Keith blushed slightly, “It’s nothing really. I just wanted to keep my mind off of something and I figured that this was the best way to do it.”

“I see.” She took a drink of water. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you are trying to keep your mind off of.” Keith was quiet for a minute before the princess continued. “Well, I guess, if you tell me, then it wouldn’t really be keeping your mind off of it anymore, now would it?”

The black paladin smirked. “No, it wouldn’t be keeping my mind off of it, but then again, I haven’t been doing a very good job of ignoring it anyway.” He took a deep breath and conceded. “My birthday is tomorrow.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Your birthday? I was not aware that you were with child. We really shouldn’t be practicing if you are so soon to deliver.”

“Wait. No.” Keith’s face heated up rapidly. “No, that’s not- that’s not what birthday means here on Earth. I’m not- not pregnant. Human males can’t even get pregnant, so-” He cut himself off and took a deep breath to force his skin to return to its normal color. “On Earth, a birthday is the day that you were born. It’s traditionally celebrated once a year to celebrate the fact that you survived another 365 days of life I guess.”

“Well, that sounds great! Why would you want to avoid a celebration for living a little longer?” Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Keith let his head thud against the wall and he slid down so that he was sitting on the floor. “It’s been years since I had a great birthday party. That’s all. I usually had a small one with my dad back when he was alive. He would make these amazing chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, BLT sandwiches for lunch, and homemade mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner.” He found himself smiling gently at the soft memories.

Images of his dad shaking him awake with the sun’s rays shining through the window blinds and cutting diagonally across his face. Keith would rush down the stairs, still in his pajamas because _it was October 23rd_ , and that meant that he could do whatever he wanted today.

“But then…” Keith’s face fell as he remembered the night, two weeks before his birthday, when his dad hadn’t come home from his volunteer job at the fire station. “There was the accident. I was shipped off to the home where birthdays were nothing to be celebrated. Hell, they were frowned upon. No one cared about when your birthday was like they did at school. I guess… I guess I just grew up with so much hatred around birthdays that all of the good memories were corrupted.” He glanced up at Allura, surprised to see moisture in the depths of her eyes. “I just wanted to see if I could help you out for my birthday. That’s good enough for me.”

\---

“Uhhh… Krolia?” Lance asked from the bottom of a pit. “What is this?”

Her head popped up over the edge of the pit. “Oh!” She exclaimed. “This is The Hole.”

“That… doesn’t explain anything.” Lance said awkwardly. “What I meant is what is it for and why do we have it here?” The walls were all soft dirt and impossible to climb up without becoming covered in even more dust. He looked in dismay at his clothes which were now brown from trying just that.

“It’s part of a Galran Festival!” She smiled. “Traditionally, we would have a ring that competitors aren’t allowed to leave by threat of death. I couldn’t find rope anywhere around here, so I improvised.

The red paladin stared up at her. “You… Couldn’t… Find… Rope? In all of the Garrison, you couldn’t find rope? So you decided to dig a _hole_?” Krolia nodded. “How am I supposed to get out? Do you have a ladder?”

“The true Galra way is to use the bodies of your enemies to form a pile that you can climb up.” She said. “Unfortunately, I was unable to find people who were willing to fight to the death in a pit for nothing more than glory if they were the victor.”

Lance sighed heavily. “That doesn’t answer my question. How am I supposed to get out of here?”

Krolia pondered for a moment. Her finger tapped her chin thoughtfully. “You know, I hadn’t really thought about that. I wasn’t planning on anyone falling into The Hole.”

“Everyone shut up!” Pidge’s voice whispered harshly. “He’s almost here!”

Sure enough, when Lance listened to the noise around him, he heard the quiet thrum of an engine getting steadily closer. “Places everybody!” He looked around himself. “Wait. Guys. Guys!” Someone above shushed him. “How do I get out of here?”

\---

If Keith had been in his right mind, he never would have let Shiro blindfold him and drive him out into the middle of the desert. Apparently, he was not in his right mind as that was exactly what was happening right now.

The wind was curling around him so that he couldn’t tell if they were turning to the left or to the right. The only indication was that the heat of the morning sun drifted along his skin. That wasn’t much help though, because they seemed to be heading mostly west, away from the rising sun, and it was the middle of October, so the sun wasn’t very hot anyway.

He knew that they had made several turns and circles to ensure that Keith had absolutely no idea where they were. Shiro cut the engine before the hoverbike had completely quit moving and they both jumped off, still in sync after years. After the roar of the engine, Keith couldn’t hear a thing in the silence of the desert, and he couldn’t say that he was disappointed.

The wind blew behind him and pushed his dark hair in front of his face. “Are you going to take the blindfold off now, Shiro?” Keith asked. He tugged at the strings in his hair, but only managed to get them more caught and they pulled on the fine hairs at the base of his neck. He winced as Shiro helped him undo the knot and the scene in front of him was revealed.

“Happy Birthday!”

The shout rang out, incredibly loud from the quiet. Pidge stood by a table with a few hastily wrapped gifts on top of it. The wind had blown her hair all around her face, so it was even more rustled than normal. Matt stood behind her. He was still dressed in his rebel armor; the metal caught the sun and reflected it directly into Keith’s eyes.

He looked away to see Hunk dressed in an apron that read “Respect the Cook” in all capital letters. He was even wearing an obnoxious stereotypical white hat. Something was sizzling on the grill in front of him and Keith felt his stomach rumble even before he knew what was being cooked. Coran jumped out from behind Hunk a little too late for the initial surprise, but it was definitely a way to keep Keith on his toes.

Allura, Romelle, Krolia, and Kolivan all stood off to the side together, standing in front of something that looked suspiciously like a giant hole, but honestly, who knew. They all waved to him with giant smiles on their faces.

A giant shade tent had been set up in the middle that read ‘Happy Something Birthday, Keith!’ Despite himself, he felt the corners of his lips turn up even further than they already were at Lance’s unmistakable goofy handwriting. He really didn’t know how old he was, so the Something part was accurate. Did he count the two years that felt like months? Did he include the time spent with the other paladins in stasis? Who knew? He sure didn’t.

Unable to keep himself from it any longer, he rushed to the center tent where everyone else already seemed to be running towards. He was met with a bone-crushing hug from everyone. Maybe he could start making some new memories for October 23rd.

“Hold on.” He pulled away as much as they would let him. “Where’s Lance?” I know for a fact that sign is his doing.”

A faint call of ‘Happy birthday, Keith!’ accompanied by a shower of dirt came out of the suspicious hole from earlier. The black paladin laughed slightly to himself before he left the group to stand on the edge of the pit.

“What happened to you?” He asked. Lance was covered in dirt. It wasn’t just a thin layer like Keith would have thought. It was caked in so that not a single part of Lance other than his eyes and his teeth looked clean.

“I fell in,” Lance mumbled dejectedly. “I’m apparently supposed to use the bodies of my enemies to escape, but I’m fresh out of enemies.”

Hunk tapped Keith on the shoulder and offered him… chocolate chip pancakes? He glanced to Allura and Krolia, who both pointed at each other when he glanced at them. Whoever it was didn’t matter to him. He took a bite of them, preparing himself for disappointment… which never came.

They were far from the same pancakes that his dad had made all those years ago, but they were just as good. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he groaned unintentionally. “Hunk,” he said. “These are some of the best pancakes I’ve had in my life.” He shoveled another bite into his mouth and savored the flavors.

“Dude,” Lance called out. “Rude. You can’t just eat food in front of a man who can’t get any for himself.”

Keith smiled mischievously. “Can’t I?” He popped another bite into his mouth, and -oh, that was his last one- he overemphasized a moan. He closed his eyes in mock bliss, not that it wasn’t hard to fake because they were amazing on their own.

Lance scrambled up the wall, dislodging more dirt to fall down onto him. It also dislodged the dirt right under Keith’s feet and sent him tumbling into the hole with Lance.

“Now look at what you’ve done,” Keith said in faux outrage. “Now we’re both stuck here with no way to get food.” He was dirty now, not as filthy as Lance, but he was well on his way if Lance _wouldn’t stop throwing dirt at him_.

“Hey, Keith!” Pidge’s head popped up over the edge of the pit. I’ve got something for you! She tossed down a small silvery object in the shape of a DVD holder. It was silver because it was absolutely covered in Duct tape. Every inch of the gift had at least one layer on it, preventing Keith from being able to open it right this minute. “When you finally get it open, we should watch Episode Six tonight!”

He pulled a small pocket knife from his shoe and cut along the outer edge. He opened the case and looked at the chrome CD titled Conspiracy. He flipped through the booklet that came with it, looking at the sixth episode titled ‘Aliens’.

“As soon as you two get out of that hole, you can open the rest of them!”

Maybe. Just maybe, he could grow to like October 23rd once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Keith!


End file.
